Wax-conditioned finish remover



Pa tented ec. 29;, F1931 No Drawing.

The present movers, that is to say substances capable of mixture of methyl acetate and ethyl acetate,

Application filed January 6, 1926. Serial m. 79,875.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE invention relates to finish remethyl alcohol, "will actually consist of: a

' removing'or loosening-dried coats of paint' the latter of course preponderating, and this or varnish or other scribed, and a a paint and para 20% of the entire remover,

'sh of similar charmaterial can be used to advantage in place aoter, and has for its special object to proof the pure ethyl acetate, for the purpose 55 duce removers which will be free from obstated. The amount'of the ester constituent jections of certam removers heretofore deis preferably between about and about particular object is to produce varnish; remover contaimng Removers of the character specified geneither alone or with other erally consist of a wax solvent, a wax Ipre- 60 waxes, which shall possess adiminished tendcipltant and a wax, elther with or wit out ency' of such wax to crystallize, particularly other materials. As the main wax solvent I during long periods of storage, and especialpreferably employ benzol, either the relatively at relatively low temperatures. A furly pure article or a benzol containing small ther object is to produce a paint remover amounts of higher aromatic hydrocarbons, which shall be highly efilcient in its action, such as toluol, xylol and the like, 90% ben-,

, and will be capable ofuse on various kinds zol can'be used,

of coatings to be removed.

Benzol, in addition-to its wax-dissolving Paraffin waigof the ordinary grade forms function, acts, in removers of this class, as a an excellent film-forming agent for removers penetrant or penetratlng solvent which thus of the character stated, this being cheap and co-operates with the active solvents (inefiective, but it is open to certain objections. eluding loosening solvents, such as the alco- It is found that removers containing paraflin hols, acetone, etc.) employed in the remover.

are liableto aggravated crystallization, pa ticularly if kept f place, as by being kept for several months in r- Toluol or xylol can also be used, replacing or a long period in a cold part or all of the benzol, although they are not generally so good as the benzol.

the winter time in an unheated building, and The crystallization of paraflin wax and I although it i back into the-nncrystallized or substantially colloidal condition by warming the same up waxes, is liable to occur when the known 80 sreadily possible to put this wax to some extent also, other waxes including vegetable waxes and especially mineral 3 and sha g W 1 m y 1? the workmen 1n kinds of remover are stored in cold places. the would not know fills, 3 would Such crystallization and the consequent sepd y Pronounce the mammal t be aration of the waxy material reduces the visteriorated, which of course might give the Partlcular brand bad reputatlonamong mover, so that the latter if used in this state the workmen. A special" object of the present inve ntion is to'reduce or retard this crystallization and separation, during ordinary storage-o f thematerial, and I have found 40 that this 0 be to a substantial extent'ac- .cosity of the remaining liquid part of the recomplished y the employment of materials remover,-he nce is of importanceinholding containing the pro er amount of a lower the'remover on the Pahtt Surfage long gnough alkyl ester'of the atty acids, ethyl acetate for Proper loosemng h ra (boiling-point 77 0-. being mentioned as a other finlsh) 5 specific example, Other esters of similar il of course,the P l of w e s nature such as. methyl propionate and the entlrely Prevent -pp g nd rulmlng of like also can be used, or mixtures containing the remove! r vertlcal m' these. It be obvious that ethyl a et te faces, it'decreases the tendency for this to natured'alcohol containing ethyl-alcohol and. inous'condition in the present case tends to reproduced from ordinary" (methylated) deoccur. The wax in the colloidaPor gelat-v duce the fiowing and dripping, to a considerable extent.

' solvents present in the remover should have of 85 to 95% boiling points below 150 (1., and not substantially above 100 (1, or even somewhat below this figure. (Obviously this does not refer to the wax or other thickeners). Without restricting myself to the use solely of solvent materials of this order of volatilpreferably ity, I prefer that by far the major portion of the liquid solvents used (say at least-% thereof) should boil below 150 C.,'and preferably at not substantially above 100 C.

I preferably avoid the use, as stated, of diificultly volatile constituents, at least in large amounts. These diflicultly volatile solvents might be absorbed in cracks or in porous or spongy portions of the wood, or other material being operated upon and might very slowly seep out therefrom, this continuing even after the new painter other finish has been applied, thereby spotting the work to an undesired degree.

As the principal active solvent (loosening solvent) I preferably employ acetone which may be assisted by the alcohols, such as methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, denatured alcohol and the like, and also ethyl acetate, and the like, above mentioned. Other active solvents can be employed therewith, so far as miscible with the other constituents employed. Q

The alcohol if used as the main solvent, (and of course also the other constituents of the remover) may be employed in the anhydrous or substantially anhydrous state, (as compared with the commercial articles containing up to 10% or so of water). ThusI may use absolute alcohol or alcohol containing say not below 98.5% rather than alcohol strength. The activity of such substantially anhydrous alcohol (and of substaritially anhydrous removers containing the same) is enough greater than that of alcohol containing 5 or 10% or more of water, so that the added expense of using the absolute alco hol sometimes is suflicientlyv'compensate for by the addedactivity' of the removers. The alcohols used herein are preferably ethyl, methyl or denatured. I

Without restricting myself to the details thereof, I give the following exam les of removers falling within the scope of the present invention (it being understood that all the ingredients in some cases may loosening solvents, substantially free be emb d ployed in a substantially anhydrous state, i. e., without more than 0.5 to 1.5% of water).

Emamplel Parts Benzol 50 Acetone 30 Ethyl acetate 18 Hard paraflin wax 2 I In making the remover, the parafiin wax is dissolved in thebenzol. To this mixture is added the acetone and ethyl acetate. Other methods of mixing may be employed.

Preferably I add about /i% of soluble cotton to each of the above compositions.

Example 2 is advantageous for removing paint from surfaces which are to be coated with pyroxylin lacquer enamels. The latter have poor adhesion at best and any trace of wax remaining on the surface -is prejudicial to adhesion. By reduction of wax solvent the proportion of wax is reduced substantially and the composition may be used to advantage for the purpose aforesaid. I

In another type of removers, phenols (e. g. earbolic acid) have been used, with or without alkalies. In such removers it has heretofore been proposed to employ anhydrous alcohols to largely prevent injury to the hands of the workmen. In the present case I describe removers in which phenols and alkalies are not employed, and in which the anhydrous character of the solvents is for quite a different purpose. I preferably do not employ any phenolic bodies in the remover of this case.

The present application is also' in part a.

continuation of my copending application N 0. 682,068, filed December 21, 1923, now Patent 1,618,867, which contains matter disclosed in my application No. 458,051 filed April 8, 1921 (now Patent No. 1,499,101). Features of the present invention are also included herein, continued from my copending application 556,827, Patent 1,606,619.

1. A finish remover comprising a mono cyclic-hydrocarbon which is a good wax solvent, asits largest component, and wax, and containing an alkyl ester with a boiling point not substantially over 100 C., in amount betweenabout 10 and about 20% of the whole remover, to substantially-decrease the tendency of the wax to crystallize during ordinary storageof the'lremover, and other'finishsuch composition being 0 ice.

from corrosive phenolic filed April 27, 1922, now

2. A finish remover comprisin a. monocylic hydrocarbon which is a .goo%' wax solvent, as its largest component, and wax, and containing eth l acetate in amount between about an about of the whole remover, to substantially decrease the tendency of the wax to crystallize luring ordinary storage of'the remover, together with not over 0.5% of nitrocellulose to act as a gelatinizer 10 for the wax, and containing acetone and-alco hol in combined amount between about a and about of the entire remover, as its essential loosening solvents, such com osition being substantially free from corrosive plie- 15 nolicbodies.

In testimony whereof I aflix m 'si ature. CARLETON E IS. 

